MHS WES NEWSLETTER
Thursday, November 1, 2018
News from the Principal
Mr. Steve’s Retirement
For the past 24 years, Mr. Steve has proudly served as the custodian of Meetinghouse School. He has been an integral part of our school community, working behind the scenes to make sure all of our students are safe and secure in a clean and welcoming school. He has worked hard to learn students’ names and has built lasting connections. On Wednesday afternoon, MHS students lined the hallways to give Mr. Steve a high five and wish him well on his retirement as he walked out the door. It was a very special send-off to this wonderful member of our school community. Thank you Mr. Steve for your commitment and dedication to our students!
Thank you SROs!
Our school resource officers are present in our schools almost everyday. Yesterday, Officers Andy Loescher and Nate Hawkins delivered glow bracelets to students in every classroom to use while trick-or-treating. They are committed to building positive relationships with our students and keeping them safe at all times.
From the MHS and WES Nurses
Student Council Pink Out Day!!
Fifth Grade News
The Vocabulary Parade is one of the most fun days in grade 5! We are able to dress up in creative costumes and expand our vocabulary at the same time! The third grade certainly loves when we parade through their classes! Ask your child some of the new and fancy words that they have now added to their expanding vocabulary.
The Fifth grade classes all read the book Wonder as the first read aloud of the year. This book opens up the opportunity for such great class conversations all surrounding kindness, acceptance and friendship. Students are really able to connect with the characters and learn valuable lessons from each of them. We will conclude our Wonder Unit with a final project and a grade-wide viewing of the movie based off the novel.
Nature's Classroom fundraisers went home last week and will run until November 9th. The fundraiser includes braided bread, cookie dough and mixed bag designs. All profits will go into student’s individual accounts for their Nature’s Classroom trip! This is a perfect time and way to kick off the holiday shopping season!
From the School offices
- November 2: Ratatouille the Movie at Oakmont Regional High School 4:00PM, Click on Community Flyers for more information
- November 5 & 6: No School~Staff Development
- November 6: State Elections held at WES
- November 12: No School~Veteran's Day
- November 14: PTO Meeting WES Library 6:30PM
- November 21: Half Day (All Schools) Thanksgiving Holiday
- November 22-23: No School~Thanksgiving Holiday
Ratatouille the Movie
Friday, Nov 2, 2018, 04:00 PM
Oakmont Regional High School Auditorium
Music News-Oct 31, 2018-Mr. Kris Lucander
Greetings to all! Here are just some of the highlights for general music class, the bands, and the chorus! Also, I’m looking for help in developing a ukulele component to our general music classes in grades 4 and 5. If you would like to help me research other schools, write grants, decide on instruments and storage, I could really use your help.
Grade K : These students have settled in well as they have been using their singing voices. Encourage your kids to teach you the songs as well and share in the fun! The Holiday Sing-A-Long for grade K is scheduled for Thursday December 20 during school, your child’s classroom teacher will provide details.
Grade 1 : Our 1st grade students have developed their singing voices nicely as they review old songs and learn new ones at the same time! Ask them about the song Ti-Dee-Oh!
Grade 2 : These students have had a big unit on rhythm as they are learning how to read, say, and play rhythms involving quarter notes, sets of 2 eighth notes, and more. They also learned about the classical piece of music called the Sorcerer’s Apprentice by Paul Dukas, acting out the story, seeing a short Disney cartoon, learned about the bassoon, as well as learning some new songs for Halloween.
Grade 3 : These kids have also worked on a rhythm unit, reviewing notes, working with new whole and half notes, whole and half rests, as they play and say rhythms on percussion instruments and pianos. They learned about the famous piece of music by Sergi Prokfiev called Peter and the Wolf, as they heard a story, saw a short cartoon, constructed a story line, and learned about the instruments of the orchestra. These students also participated in Halloween songs as they sang and had fun.
Grade 4 and 5: Students learned and reviewed prior knowledge of rhythms and learned about new 16th notes, and 8th note triplets. They also play on percussion instruments. They started to learn about famous pieces of classical music of Edvourd Grieg’s “In the Hall of the Mountain King” and Camille Saint-Sans’ “Danse Macabre”, as they learned about the orchestra.
Chorus: Chorus has already started rehearsing for various performances, stay tuned for updates on extra potential performances like the town tree lighting ceremony senior centers. Our Holiday concert is scheduled for December 17 at Monty Tech.
B Band: Beginners have been learning their instruments by taking lessons and attending rehearsals. Remember to encourage daily practice of all the things they know and new material that the teacher shows them. Have them perform for relatives at home! Our Holiday concert is scheduled for December 17 at Monty Tech.
A Band: These kids had quite the fall already opening up for our town Cracker Festival, and then playing recently at the ORHS football game with the Marching Spartans at halftime! Kids should be using the paper that shows how to listen and play along with 5 of our hard songs using websites noted on the paper. Students finishing the work needed to play the concert ahead of time are eligible to be a Cool Yule Kid, which is a group of kids that do extra music and performances in school and before the concert. Our Holiday concert is scheduled for December 17 at Monty Tech.
Jazz Band: Our jazz band played the spring concert music recently at the Cracker Festival and really were awesome! Students wishing to be in jazz band in January, should get music ahead of time to audition. Music will be available in December. Auditions are January 16+23.Greetings to all! Here are just some of the highlights for general music class, the bands, and the chorus! Also, I’m looking for help in developing a ukulele component to our general music classes in grades 4 and 5. If you would like to help me research other schools, write grants, decide on instruments and storage, I could really use your help.
STEM News
Students in Westminster have been to Boot Camp—Design Thinking Boot Camp that is. The in-school "camp" was part of STEM Week, a statewide effort to get students excited about science, technology, engineering, and math (STEM) education. Throughout the week of October 22-26, Meetinghouse and Westminster Elementary School students took part in hands-on mini design challenges to learn attitudes and work strategies such as scoping a problem, teamwork and persistence. Ask your children to describe the challenge they completed and talk about what they learned:
- The LEGO Duck Challenge, focusing on creativity
- The Back-to-Back Build Challenge, focusing on communication skills
- The Paper Tower Challenge, focusing on optimizing
- The Build a Foundation Challenge, focusing on persistence
- The Stack the Cups Challenge, focusing on teamwork
- The Rapunzel's Tower Challenge, focusing on problem solving
In November and December, our students will apply what they have learned to a district-wide design challenge: Can you help the Gingerbread Boy make it safely across the river? We can't wait to see our students' creative solutions!
Stack the Cups Challenge
Rapunzel's Tower Challenge
LEGO Duck Challenge
Second Grade News
1. Hat & Mitten Drive (November)
Send home flyers
Put collection boxes at both schools
Collect new hats & mittens
Distribute to local organizations in need
2. Holiday Card Making table at Holiday Craft Workshop (1st Saturday in December)
Purchase (reimbursable) card making supplies
Oversee the table at the Holiday Craft Workshop
Distribute cards to local nursing homes, hospitals and the like.
Please contact us ASAP if you can help get these going.
Our next PTO meeting is Wednesday, November 14th at 6:30 PM in the WES library.